Codes des Religionsunterrichts : eine qualitativ-explorative Einzelfallstudie zur Innensicht von Schüler*innen auf den Religionsunterricht

• Codes of religious education : a qualitative-explorative individual case study on pupils' internal view of religious education

Misera, Carsten; Meyer, Guido (Thesis advisor); Roebben, Bert (Thesis advisor)

Aachen : RWTH Aachen University (2021, 2022)
Dissertation / PhD Thesis

Dissertation, Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen, 2021

Abstract

The individual case study "Codes of Religious Education. A qualitative-explorative individual case study on pupils' internal view of religious education" by Carsten Misera is part of a series of empirical research studies that provide insight into the research field of religious education in schools. The design of the study is based on the classification criteria laid down by Brotz & Döring for the procedure of a qualitative-empirical study. The scientific-theoretical approach of this study is defined as a qualitative research approach. The aim of this is to obtain detailed information about the object of research with the help of open research questions from a - compared to quantitative studies - small number of research units. In the present study, data collection is carried out by means of a semi-structured leading question interview. The collected data is analysed according to the methodological principle of framework analysis. On a theoretical level, the present qualitative-empirical study can be classified as a basic scientific investigation. As an explorative, i.e. subject-related and theory-building original study with primary analysis, it contributes to scientific knowledge in the field of basic research in religious education. Due to the close link between university research and school practice, its explorative orientation makes it possible to draw both theoretical and practical benefits from the insights gained. On the content level, concrete reciprocal references are established through the interweaving of students' internal views of religious education with the obligatory legal requirements of the core curricula for the subject of Catholic religious education in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The study focuses on the students' descriptions of the structural and conceptual orientation of religious education, taking into account the relationship between free and bound lessons, the verbal communication processes in religious education, the role of teachers and classmates for learning in religious education, and the content and relevance of religious education. On a methodological level, the present group study with random sampling is designed as a cross-sectional study of grades 5 to Q2 of the Dalton Gymnasium Alsdorf and is conducted as a field study in all learning groups of Catholic religious education. Within the framework of data collection, a semi-structured leading question interview, based on a deductively conceived catalogue of questions, forms the basis for inductive category formation. In this study, the focus is not on the internal view of religious education from an external perspective, but on the internal view of religious education from the perspective of the learners. The aim of this study is to give the students a voice, to understand their language and to decipher their codes. Their internal view of religious education deserves to be perceived and taken seriously, because alongside the teachers, the learners are essential co-creators of the lessons and active shapers of their educational processes. To this end, it is not enough to depict a vague assessment of their perceptions. In order to give meaning to the learners' inner views, they must be recorded in detail, processed and placed in the complex spectrum of demands of religious education with its legal requirements and its school practice. What is of essential importance for pupils in religious education? What meaning does religious education as a whole have for pupils? For this purpose, 290 codes and subcodes were developed from 16 individual interviews, each with 20 leading questions, and 1119 coded segments were extracted, grouped and analysed in a qualitative-empirical research design.